By Margaret H.Bonham
Dog grooming
manners don’t happen overnight. Familiarizing your dog with procedures is
essential in anything you’re trying to get your dog to do. Dogs need to be
trained in good grooming manners so they get used to the idea of being cleaned
and preened — they may even come to enjoy it! After all, grooming is attention
and time spent with you.
Unfortunately,
most dogs are introduced to grooming at the worst possible time, when they’re
either dirty, have mats in their hair, they need their toenails clipped, or all
of the above. They struggle (Who wouldn’t?) because they don’t like being held
or having their feet touched or their fur pulled. Remember when you were a kid
and had a mat (or bubblegum) in your hair?
You know how
unpleasant that is. I used to hate to have my mom comb my hair, because I
always had so many tangles. Your dog feels the same way. The best way to
instill good grooming manners in your dog is to make the experience a pleasant
one. Otherwise, your dog simply won’t participate or will do so only
grudgingly.
The best time to
train a dog to accept any kind of grooming procedure is when he’s a puppy.
Puppies are more open to new things, and you have time to build up good
experiences from this openness. When your dog hasn’t had any bad experiences
with grooming, he’s more likely to be accepting of the procedures.
But even if you
have a dog who has endured bad experiences with grooming, you still can retrain
him to accept it. Your dog just needs more time and more training.
Try spending
about five to ten minutes a day training your dog to deal with grooming issues.
Keep your sessions short and fun and always end them with a quick game of fetch
or another activity that your dog enjoys.
Sources: Dog Grooming For Dummies
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